To be fair, the message came to me through means no less random or vexing.

Unfortunately, it was after 4:00 when I saw this message & Matthew was long gone from his school computer & skype account. I wondered what in the world he could be talking about. THE news?!?!

I was walking my 1st grade class back to their homeroom when Albert Yoo, a 3rd grade teacher at my school, approached me. Laptop in hand and struggling to contain a smile, he asked if I had received the email about Earth Pals.

Surely he couldn't be referring to what I've called our "long shot" application...for the ISTE-SIGMS award.

I wondered if Sherry had emailed about our collaborative project. Our TED Talk-inspired Earth Pals project was finally nearing its conclusion, and so Sherry and I were writing back and forth regularly to determine when our classes could present their findings to one another. But then again, it was mid April. Was it possible that ISTE's Special Interest Group for Media Specialists (SIGMS) had selected their Technology Innovation Award winners? No way. That was such a long shot. It had to be something else.

Later that evening (after Matthew did not respond to an email or a tweet -- How dare he have a LIFE!), his wife, Aimee, hit me up on Facebook with a hearty "Congratulations!!!" She explained that Matthew was off being his usual Busy Librarian self but that our project had indeed WON the award...THE award!Friday was a really busy day. We celebrated Poem in Your Pocket Day throughout our school. That was a ton of fun. Following the end-of-day bell, I also presented a gamification webinar at the SCRLC Emerging Tech IV digital conference. Topping it all off, I then rushed over to a local high school to volunteer for our county's 6th annual Battle of the Books competition. By the time I got home and was filling Aimee in on my day, I realized that our school's email system was down and I couldn't even access the email Albert was trying to show me. The email that I hadn't actually even read myself yet.

I was truly speechless. It's a good thing we were messaging back and forth so Aimee probably just thought I was a slow texter. :)

Finding out about Sherry from Aimee after the fact was almost worth it. My now clearly cryptic Skype message to Sherry was evidence enough for my exhaustion. But how could I possibly expect to sleep without being able to access that email?

Shock.

Surprise.

Excitement.

Elation.

Unbelief.

Overwhelming joy.

All are the emotions I've experienced over and over again.

And, if being honest with myself, I'm still feeling a bit just thinking about it right now.

Later that night Matthew emailed me the news and details.

And when I could finally access my work account again the next morning, I made sure to properly forward the announcement to Sherry and Gretchen, her collaborative partner at Rossville.

Now I'm overwhelmed with a different feeling: gratitude.

So completely thankful.

Thank you ISTE and our SIGMS!

Thank you for recognizing our hard work.

Thank you for acknowledging our vision for an ambitious student-centered project.

Thank you for affirming the countless hours of planning and coordination between Longfellow Elementary and Rossville Schools, as well as between teacher librarians and classroom teachers: Sherry and Gretchen, Albert and me.

Thank you for valuing not only librarian to teacher collaboration but also librarian to librarian collaboration!

"We are stronger together than we are alone."--Walter Payton

In an organization built on the foundations of collaboration, innovative ideas, and taking big risks in the name of epic adventures, we are so very thankful for the opportunity to be recognized by ISTE and our SIGMS.